Jewels (necklaces, bracelets, brooches, pendants, watches, etc. . . .) are already known, comprising flat faces which are set with a large number of small precious or semi-precious stones placed side by side. These stones are generally very small, their largest dimension possibly being less than 1 mm. The stones are placed in housings which are machined in the mass of the metal constituting the setting of the jewel, then they are set by means of claws constituted by collets of metal surrounding each stone.
Up to the present time, by using numerical control machines which allow relative displacements along five axes of the tool with respect to the piece to be machined, it is known to machine in series the metal setting, forming therein housings adapted to receive the stones and leaving collets of metal adapted to serve as claws for setting the stones, with the necessary high precision of machining.
Such processes of machining are disclosed in Patent Nos. FR-A-2 579 085, FR-A-2 580 155 and FR-A-2 593 039 to DIAMANT APPLICATIONS.
Once the setting is machined on a machine tool, each stone must be positioned in a housing and the stones must be set.
These operations may be carried out manually under a binocular magnifier but, taking into account the very small dimensions of the stones and the large number thereof, manual operations are expensive.
In the case of brilliants or other stones which are cut to a point and of which the visible face is a flat table which must be parallel to the flat face of the setting, a difficulty lies in the fact that stones of the same granulometry do not have the same height between the sides of the pavilion which abut on a seat machined in the setting and the table of the stone and, in the same class of granulometry, differences in height of the order of one tenth of the diameter of the stone are frequently encountered.
These differences in height create problems when it is desired to set, mechanically and simultaneously, a plurality of stones on a flat face. In that case, the setting set with stones is placed between the plates of a press so that the flat face is parallel to these plates and the claws are pressed so that they themselves abut on the stones, but in that case there is a risk of shattering the uppermost stones which do not resist the shear and compression forces.
Patent Nos. FR-A-2 580 155 and FR-A-2 593 039 to DIAMANT APPLICATIONS describe machining processes for making deformable seats and for placing the tables of all the stones in the same plane parallel to the plane face of the setting receiving the stones. These two documents also describe a process of mechanical setting by means of plates which come into abutment on the tables of all the stones in order to take them to the same level and on the claws in order to deform them and set the stones.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a particular device for mechanically and simultaneously setting a plurality of stones on a flat face of a jewel setting, by using a press and a process and device for simultaneously positioning all the stones in their housing, mechanically, by using this device.